SFUnzipped’s Week in Review: Too broke to buy you a headline

Welcome to Week in Review, a look back at stories from the Chronicle’s Sunday Style section, SFUnzipped, as well as other publications.

When writer Kate Schatz, 30, and her then-boyfriend, Web designer Jason Pontius, 38, decided to move in together after dating for five months in Providence, R.I., neither one intended to get married. Pontius was divorced, and Schatz, who was coming out of a relationship with a woman when they met, was opposed to the institution for political reasons.

Valentine’s Day isn’t until next Saturday, but that didn’t stop Ginnifer Goodwin from dishing about love and relationships at the Tribeca Grand Hotel on Wednesday night.

Isla Fisher, who stars in “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” has a secret of her own: It was all method acting. “I’m not anti-shopping, but I shop rarely and poorly,” says the actress, who’s been handed the Herculean task of making a hero out of a woman who can’t say “no” to a splurge while in real life the economy is imploding.

Ilisa Tanner

unlocks the door of a back room in a West Hollywood day spa. A whiff of mothballs wafts out of the small space, which has a folded massage table leaning against one wall and a few “Zen” decorations scattered about. Most of the room, however, is taken up with stuffed clothing racks and piles containing brand-new thousand-dollar “it” bags from Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu, tops from Bebe and Ankh and other trendy contemporary lines, True Religion and Roberto Cavalli jeans, random single items like a matronly St. John dress or a three-piece Dior denim ensemble, and enough Ed Hardy sweat shirts to outfit the cast members of several reality shows.

A friend once told me about his father, whose workaday job involved a numbing commute and thankless trips up and down the East Coast. The only thing that brought Tom Kingsley Jr. any solace was having his shoes shined in airports. “It’s the only pleasure, the only dignity left in business travel,” he told his son.

The stars of “Sex and the City” have signed up for a sequel to last year’s hit movie. The film, due to be released by Warner Bros in summer 2010, will reunite Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon.

The Wall Street Journal said Thursday it cut 25 jobs, eliminating positions in both the business and newsroom divisions of the company. Hardest hit: the Retail & Luxury bureau, a clear target since the Journal added a new style and luxury magazine dubbed WSJ. in April 2008.

Private school: $32,000 a year per student. Mortgage: $96,000 a year. Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year. Nanny: $45,000 a year. We are already at $269,000, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet. Five hundred thousand dollars — the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money — seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast.

Invitations are in the mail for next Friday’s New York Fashion Week, which means fashion’s PR mavens are orchestrating their guest lists now. Oscar nominees are always a big score, but WowOwow speculates that the biggest coup would be an appearance from First Lady Michelle Obama or vice wife Jill Biden.

Julie Sacks

bought her husband Andrew a new Hermes Cape Cod watch with the wrap-around band for his birthday last month. The $2,200 Madison Avenue purchase had the traits they seek as post-crash luxury consumers: “I was looking for something groovy, something more fashion-driven but with a classic style,” Mr. Sacks says.

Cole Haan is featuring tennis star Maria Sharapova in its new spring ad campaign, marking the first time the Nike fashion subsidiary has used a Nike athlete as its face. The campaign for Cole Haan’s 2009 sporting collection will debut the week of Feb. 9 in the March issue of Conde Nast’s Vanity Fair magazine.

Last week, former Bush White House chief of staff Andrew Card began complaining publicly about President Obama failing to always wear a jacket in the Oval Office. It wasn’t just a passing remark; Card can’t seem to stop talking about this. At least one prominent former Bush official has the following message for President Obama: I don’t care if it’s warm enough to grow orchids in the Oval Office. Put your suit jacket on.

Olivia Palermo hit up the “He’s Just Not That Into You” after party. Palermo is on Whitney Port’s MTV show, “The City.” It’s been reported that the MTV execs want these two chicks to start getting into some confrontations to help boost ratings.

Sarah Morgan will defend New Jersey passionately to anyone who will listen (No. 3). Max Evjen belonged to the high school band Little Blue Fuzzy Things (No. 18). Jim Beaver has lived through two typhoons (No. 22). Do these oddball facts look familiar? If not, you clearly haven’t been spending much time online lately, where the latest digital fad — a chain-letter-cum-literary exercise called “25 Random Things About Me” — is threatening to consume what little remaining free time and privacy we have.

Despite the drizzle, fans and celebrity clients of hairstylist Andy Lecompte came out to toast him and the opening of his new salon in West Hollywood salon Thursday night. Nicole Richie floated about wearing a billowing red muu muu and a gold, Cleopatra-meets-1920s flapper headdress, Lindsay Lohan bopped around behind girlfriend Sam Ronson’s DJ setup in a simple black V-neck dress and miles of flowing red hair, and Jenni Kayne (whose boutique is next door to the salon) played it cool as party hostess in a subdued black and gray ensemble.

We know we’re not alone in the general uneasiness inspired by the pressures of Valentine’s day. In addition to provoking relationship anxiety (among singles and couples alike) and the extra strain on wallets, there’s something particularly stressful about picking out yet another gift when confronted by the sappy, frilly options out there. In an effort to help restore a little sincerity to the holiday, this first of two guides sorts the sweet from the saccharine, the cute from the cheesy and the lovely from the precious.